Name Place Animal Speed

How to play Name Place Animal Speed

Name Place Animal Speed is the fast, team-based version of the classic letter game (also known as Name Place Animal Thing, or “Stop the Bus”). Instead of writing a name, a place and an animal on paper, you play out loud and at speed: the game draws a letter and shows a category, such as “Animals”, “Things in a kitchen” or “Singers”. The first team to shout a valid word starting with that letter scores a point. The first team to 25 points wins.

Step-by-step rules

1. Split into teams and name them in the “Your teams” panel (2 to 6 teams).
2. Press “Draw a letter”: the game picks a letter and the first category.
3. The host reads the category. The first team to say a correct word with that letter wins the point: press + next to their name.
4. Press “Next category” to keep going with the same letter. After 5 categories, change letter.
5. The first team to earn 25 points in the game wins. You can also stop early with “End game”.

How many players do you need?

You need at least 4 people in two teams, but the game is great for big groups too, with up to 6 teams. A 25-point game takes about 20 minutes; for a shorter challenge, stop earlier with “End game”.

How it differs from the classic game

• No paper or pens: you answer out loud, so you can play anywhere, even in the car or on a video call.
• Always new categories: more than 120 of them, far more varied than the usual “name, place, animal, thing”.
• Speed: the fastest team wins, not the one that knows the rarest word.
• Fair letters: tricky letters such as Q, X and Z are left out.

Tips for the host

• Agree beforehand whether proper nouns and foreign words count.
• If two teams answer at the same time, give both a point or settle it with a new category.
• If a letter is too hard for a category, skip it: you have 5 categories per letter.

Frequently asked questions